Daughter of Hephaestus
by BoboTheBookworm
Summary: "So I assume Will's told you what this place is about?" he said. I rolled my eyes. "He says that everyone here is the spawn of a Greek god. Crazy, right?" This is the story of how Jo, daughter of... Well, you read the title. This is the story of how Jo got to camp, and basically how she went on her first quest, and yadayadayada. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**You all know my character, Jo, right? Well, this is a story about how she got to camp, and a quest she goes on- *My friend, Kitty, clamps her hand over my mouth* "Don't spoil it!" Oops, sorry! Anyway, please read!**

It was one of those days when you just know something bad's about to happen. I knew something bad was going to happen right when I woke up. Partly because of the feeling, partly because I wasn't tired when I woke up. And it was Monday. You know something's up when that happens.

I went to school like I always did and met up with my best friend, Rory. Scratch that. My only friend, Rory. He's the only kid who doesn't think I'm a freak. See, I have dyslexia, ADHD, and to top it all off, I also had claustrophobia. That means school is a living… um… School is horrible for me, okay? It's impossible to read, it's hard to pay attention in class, and being squished during passing periods tends to freak me out from time to time.

Rory would probably be considered a cool kid, if it weren't for me. His face was attractive- I didn't like him that way, though. He was also pretty fit, except for a weird limp he had. It didn't affect his running or anything- he was actually great in P.E. It just looked kinda strange. But yeah, other than that, he'd fit right in with the popular kids. But of course, hanging out with a freak classifies _you_ as a freak.

At lunch, I could tell something was off. Rory was usually pretty relaxed, but he seemed on edge today. "You okay, Rory?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah…" He gave me a sideways glance, then shook his head.

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing. I just feel like something bad is going to happen today. Don't know why." Hey, it's not just me then!

"Me, too," I said, "I'm not even tired this morning. It's definitely an apocalypse." He rolled his eyes. I gasped. "What if we have to do the mile in P.E?!"

He rolled his eyes. "It's not that bad."

"Is too! It's horrible! Ugh, kill me now!"

"Gladly." I scowled and turned around to face Claire, the school's one and only b- female dog. Sounds cliche, but it was true. She didn't go one day without being a jerk to me. But I didn't let her get to me. She's just jealous of _this._ Cue dramatic hair flip. "Oh, just shut up," I said.

"No, seriously, I'd love to! I mean, there's so many reasons. I mean, obviously, someone should. I mean, with all your problems, I'd be doing you a favor. Haven't you noticed you don't have any friends? Ever wondered why?" I zoned her out and continued to eat my lunch.

"Quit ignoring me!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm not ignoring you. You're just insignificant." Rory snickered, and Claire glowered at me. "Boys!" she shouted. I rolled my eyes. Her stupid jock friends came up behind her.

"What?" they asked. One dude seemed slightly annoyed, like he didn't actually want to help her, but that would probably ruin his reputation, so for now, he's doing what he's told by Madam Moron.

"Get her."

Everything happened at once. The boys, except for that one kid, turned into these weird… things. They had like a scorpion tail, their eyes changed, so one was blue and one was green, and their bodies turned into one of a lion. Claire turned into this hideous snake woman thing. The other guy just looked downright terrified. "What the *BLEEP*" he said.

"Oh, Styx." I heard Rory mutter.

"Rory… Rory, what the heck are those?" I started backing away.

"Of course. I knew something was gonna go wrong today. But four manticores? And a dracena, too?"

"Rory, what are you talking about? What are those? What's happening?"

"Later, Jo. Just run! Run, and don't stop running!" He took off and I followed. Something flew by my ear, and it sounded like it was hissing. I saw it slam into the wall, and it was smoking. Oh, God... I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die.

"Run, Jo! Run!" Rory yelled at me.

"I am!" I tried to pick up my speed a little, and managed to kind of keep up with Rory. God, I need to exercise more. That is, if I don't die in the next five minutes.

"Rory, what are those things?" I asked again. "I'll explain later! Just keep-"

"JOANNE KEUAL, GET BACK HERE!" How the heck do those things know my full name? I never use it. It sounds like an old lady's name.

"NO THANKS!" I yelled and kept running. "Where are we going?" I asked Rory.

"You'll see! Come on!" We had long since left the school. I had no idea where we were. And I was getting exhausted already.

We managed to run for another ten minutes or so, but those monsters didn't seem tired at all. "Rory... where... when…"I panted.

"We're almost there, don't worry! Come on!" We kept running and eventually we reached a hill. Oh, come on! Running was hard enough, but uphill? Ugh!

We started running up the hill, but of course, being my clumsy self, I tripped.

"Joanne Keual... finally." My eyes widened as the weird lion/scorpion/humans towered over me. Going with my instincts, I kicked up, getting it in its face. It roared and stumbled back.

Another one looked outraged. "What? Did I hurt your buddy? Aw, poor you!" I taunted. He charged me, but I got out of the way, and threw a weak punch at him. I missed, and while I was regaining my balance, another of the monsters tackled me to the ground.

"NO!" I heard Rory scream. Suddenly, pain flared up in my forearm. I looked down and almost puked. My forearm was already turning green, black, and blue. It hurt like bleep.

"NO!" Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Rory running back down the hill, along with a couple of other guys in bronze armor. Yeah, okay. That's normal... Oh, God, I feel sick. My entire arm was burning now, up to my shoulder.

"R- Rory... help…" Things started to go dim and I heard thrashing and yelling.

"It's okay, Jo, you'll be okay. Just stay with me!" Rory hovered over me. I tried to keep my eyes open, but they didn't want to.

"Is she okay?" A new voice asked.

"Does it look like she's okay, Percy? Come on, let's get her to the infirmary," another new voice said. I felt my body being lifted up, and carried.

"It hurts…" I croaked. "I know," said someone, I couldn't tell whose voice was whose now- the pain was too much to handle. "Trust me, I know how it feels, you'll be okay soon, though. Just stay with us." I tried, I did, but I felt my brain shut down and I went into darkness.

*WILL'S POV*

"GUYS, I NEED HELP!" I heard someone shout. My head shot up, and I saw Rory at the borders. He was bringing in a new camper soon, and I guess that was now. Percy and I shared a look and we both ran to grab some armor, strapped it on, then ran to Rory.

"Manticores... dracanae…" he panted. My eyes widened and we both ran down the hill. There was a girl on the ground, and she was surrounded by manticores and a dracena. I saw one of the manticores get her with a spike. I grabbed my sword, and Percy uncapped Riptide, and we went into action.

I took the one that attacked her first. I killed it pretty quickly. I slashed through two more and they turned into dust. I looked over and Percy had gotten the others.

We rushed over to the girl, who Rory was bent over. My eyes widened at the sight of her arm. "Is she okay?" Percy asked.

"Does it look like she's okay, Percy? Come on, let's get her to the infirmary." We picked her up and started carrying her up the hill.

"It hurts…" she groaned softly. Percy grimaced. "Trust me, I know how it feels, you'll be okay soon, though. Just stay with us."

Soon after he said that, she passed out. We took her to the infirmary and we laid her down on a bed. "Oh, my, what happened?" We looked up to see Chiron. "Manticore, sir," Rory said. He looked extremely scared.

"Well, don't just stand there! Get the girl some ambrosia!" I rushed to the first aid cabinet and pulled out the bag of ambrosia. I tore off a piece and fed it to her. I treated her arm, and wrapped it. I studied her face. She has brown hair that was pulled into a messy ponytail and she had freckles. Her eyes were closed so I couldn't tell what color they were.

I sat in a chair next to her. If she started to spaz out, I'd give her some more ambrosia. I had almost fallen asleep myself when she started twitching. I shot up and grabbed the food of the gods, but then she stopped.

"No…" she murmured in her sleep. I listened closely.

"No, Rory... Give me the s'more... now... mine…" I chuckled and sat back. "S'mores…" I closed my eyes, and fell asleep, listening to her mumble about her precious campfire snack.

**Gah! What's with the indenting?! I swear, I did indent! Anyway, how was it? Good? Horrible? Review, please! Helps me out! Bye-bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

*JO'S POV*

I was having a dream I'd been having a lot lately. "GIVE ME THE S'MORES, RORY!" He stuck his tongue out at me, and so I tackled him. "GIVE THEM!"

"Nope!" I continued to wrestle him, but then the dream changed. We were by a tall pine tree.

"Rory, what are we doing-" I stopped, when I saw his lower half. "Rory… wh-why do you have… why do you have goat legs?"

He groaned. "They're goat- wait, did you say goat legs?"

I nodded, staring at them. "Oh, you got it right then! Cool!"

"So…" I said, still staring at his furry legs.

"Oh, right! Well, you see-" Suddenly, I was on the ground and a lion/scorpion/human thing was towering over me. "Ah, Joanne. Time to finish the job." It raised a spike that was smoking, and he plunged it down.

I shot up in a cold sweat, shouting, jolting someone beside me awake. My right arm was burning. Oh, great. So that wasn't a nightmare. It was real. Great.

I rubbed my head with my good hand. "Ugh, what happened?"

The guy who I'd woken up was sitting up now, looking at me. He brushed his blond hair out of his face. "You got attacked by a manticore. Several, actually."

"A manti- what?" I asked.

"A manticore… It's hard to explain. Does your arm still hurt?" he asked.

"Hurts like he- bleep. It hurts like bleep." Blondie looked amused. "Bleep?"

"Yes, bleep." He chuckled, then grabbed a bag of caramel squares, I think. "Here, this should help the pain."

"I don't want to help the pain," I said. "I want to help me. Plus, how would caramel help?"

He rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean. And it's not caramel, it's ambrosia."

"Ambrosia? What the bleep is ambrosia?"

"Food of the gods. Only eat one piece, though. If you eat too much, you'll burn to ashes."

I gulped. "Ashes? Uh, no thanks."

"You'll be fine if it's just one piece. If you were to eat five pieces, well, then you'd have a problem. But trust me, this'll help."

I took it cautiously and held it. "How do I know you're not lying and this is poisoned and if I eat it, I'll die?"

Blondie gave me a look. "Because I've already given you some, and if I hadn't, your arm would hurt, in your words, a bleep of a lot more than it is now. Also, if it weren't for me and Percy, you'd be dead."

"Oh. Thanks." I took a bite of the ambrosia. OH, MY GOD, THESE TASTE LIKE S'MORES! "OH, MY GOD, THESE TASTE LIKE S'MORES!" I shouted.

He laughed, then said, "Gods."

"Huh?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Gods. Oh, my gods." I looked at him, confused. "Oh, never mind. I'll explain later. But now your arm's feeling better, right?"

I looked at it. Yeah, it was… It felt a lot better now, actually. It still hurt a bit, but not nearly as much as before. "How… how… what…?"

"I told you, it'd make it better. It's ambrosia, the food of the gods. It'll heal you, but if you eat too much, you'll burn to ashes. Nectar will do the same thing."

"What, are you saying if I ate a flower, I'd be good?"

He laughed. "No, that's the other kind of nectar. The nectar I'm talking about is the drink of the gods."

"Gods… You keep saying 'gods.' What do you mean by that?"

"One minute." He got up, and left. Well, then. Rude!

But Blondie came back a minute later, and held out a hand. "Chiron said that since you're feeling better, I can take you on the tour."

"Tour of where?" I asked, but took his hand. He helped me up.

"Why, camp, of course."

"Camp?"

"Camp Half-Blood," he said, and he opened the door and gestured to outside. Kids everywhere were wearing orange t-shirts and jeans. I noticed Blondie was, too.

"Why is it called Camp Half-Blood?" I asked.

"Ah, time for the explanation." He took a deep breath and clapped his hands together. "Okay. So you know the Greek gods?" he asked.

I nodded my head, then shook my head. "Kind of. I kinda remember them from history and English. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well… To be blunt, everyone here… One of their parents is a Greek god."

I scoffed. "Yeah, okay. But seriously."

"I am being serious." By the tone of his voice, you could tell he knew how ridiculous it sounded.

"Seriously, Blondie? Truth. Now."

"Blondie?" he asked. I nodded. "Well, you never told me your name. Your hair's blond. Self-explanatory," I said.

"Well, it's Will. Will Solace. And you're Jo, right?"

I nodded. "Um, yeah… Jo Keual. How'd you know?"

"Rory told us. He was worried sick about you, you know."

I felt bad for scaring my friend. "Where is he, do you know?"

He shrugged. "I don't-"

"JO!" I turned around and saw Rory running over. I ran to him, "Rory!"

"Oh, my gods, Jo, you're okay! Oh, thank gods. I was so scared. I wasn't sure if you were gonna make it, you were hurt bad.. Oh, thank gods," he rambled, hugging me tight.

"Can't… breathe…" He stepped back. "Sorry." I laughed. "It's cool."

"So I assume Will's told you what this place is about?" he said. I rolled my eyes. "He says that everyone here is the spawn of a Greek god. Crazy, right?"

Rory shared a look with Will. "Wait, it is crazy… right?" I asked.

"Well… No," Rory said.

"What? How would… What does that make you… me…"

"You're a demigod, and so am I," Will said. I was at a loss for words.

"Like my dad's Apollo. Your parent is a Greek god, too."

"But aren't gods like immortal or something? My mom said that my dad died in a car crash when I was really young," I said.

"She was probably lying to protect you. See, once a demigod knows they're a demigod, their scent gets stronger."

"My scent?" I asked. I smelled fine, what are they talking about?

"Yeah, it attracts monsters. So see, if your scent's stronger, more monsters, which means it's a heck of a lot more dangerous," explained Rory.

"So… Wait, then why did my dad just leave us? I mean, isn't his family important to him?"

"Well, he has duties on Olympus… And Zeus doesn't let the gods interact with their kids much," Will said. "I know, it sucks. I've only seen my dad a few times, and even then, I didn't even get to talk to him."

"I see," I said. "So, Zeus is basically a bleep." They both laughed.

"Sure," Will said. "Zeus is a bleep." I heard thunder rumble, then stop, then rumble again, as if the skies were confused.

"So… Who is my dad?" I asked, the question that had been on my mind ever since this conversation started.

"We don't know yet. But he's supposed to claim you sometime today," Will said. Finally, after all these years, I'm finally gonna know who my dad is.

"Sweet! Wait, so who's your parent, Rory?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm not a demigod," he said. I raised my eyebrows. "Then what are you?"

I did not expect what he did next. He started pulling down his pants. I covered my eyes. "OH, MY GOD, RORY, WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!"

He laughed, and said, "It's not what you think. It's fine to look." I slowly lowered my hand. What. The. Heck.

He had goat legs. Like in my dream. He had goat legs. WHAT THE FREAKING HECK? I thought about my dream. I remembered how he was annoyed because he thought I had said something other than goat. I hid my smirk, and said, "You're half donkey?!" I yelled.

"No! I'm half-" Will interrupted him, "Why are you smirking?" I wiped it off my face then said, "I'm not. Now, um, how did this happen?" I asked, gesturing to Rory's legs. "Did your mom like-"

"Oh, gods, no! No! Agh, no, no, no!" Rory shouted, covering his ears. I started laughing, as did Will.

"Ew, you're so gross!" Rory cried, which made me laugh even harder. So hard, it was silent, and every few seconds, I made this weird noise, that sounded like wheezing. Yeah, I laugh weirdly.

Once I finally calmed down (it took about ten minutes), I asked, "So, uh, how did that happen?"

"I'm a satyr." I racked my brain, trying to remember that term. Oh, they were like followers of that nature god… Dan? No. No, I think it was Pan. Yeah, it was Pan. "Oh, you follow Pan, right?"

Will grimaced, and I looked at him curiously. "What?" I looked at Rory, who had a sad look on his face. "What?" I asked again.

"Well… Do you remember Percy? He's the other guy who saved you?" Will said. I nodded, vaguely remembering the black-haired guy. "Well, a few years ago, he went on a quest, into the Labyrinth- You know about that?" I nodded. That was one of the first things we learned in the Greek and Roman mythology unit. But wait, that thing still exists? And the gods, too? God-or gods, this was just really weird.

I realized Will was talking to me, so I listened. "...And basically, they found Pan. He talked to them and well, after that…" He looked at Rory, who motioned to him to go on. "Pan faded."

"He what?" I asked.

"He faded. Basically, when whatever a god stands for- Pan was nature- kind of disappears, or no one cares about it anymore, the god fades. It's kind of an immortal god's way of dying." Oh.

"So us bleephead humans killed a god?" Will nodded, grimly. "Faith in humanity, going down the drain. Again," I said. Rory nodded in agreement. "But at least some people respect nature. Like I've never seen you litter once," Rory said.

"Yeah, because I'm not going to destroy my home. Because if I do that, I won't have anywhere to live, and I don't want to be a space hobo."

They both gave me a weird look. "What? That's what's gonna happen when we destroy the earth! We'll have nowhere to live. No, we won't even be hobos, we'll be dead. D-E-A-D. DEAD."

They nodded, slightly, agreeing. "ANYWAY, enough of being a Debby Downer, let's do the tour."

"Okay, well," Rory said, "I'll get going. Grover's giving out new locations for the satyrs. See you at the campfire." He trotted off.

I looked at Will expectantly. He clapped his hands together. "Okay, so first, over there," he pointed to a tall pine tree, the one from my dream, on top of a hill. "That's Thalia's pine tree, and it marks the borders of camp. They're magical, so monsters can't get in. Past the borders is off-limits, unless you're going home, or you're going on a quest."

"Who's Thalia?" I asked. "She's the daughter of Zeus," he said. "About ten years ago, she and a couple other demigods, and a satyr named Grover, who Rory was talking about, arrived at camp, with a ton of monsters following them. Thalia sacrificed herself to help the others get to camp. In her last few minutes, Zeus took mercy on her, and turned her into the tree, instead of letting her die. A few years ago, though, one of the demigods that was with her, Luke, poisoned the tree."

"What? After she sacrificed herself for him? What the heck is wrong with him?" I demanded.

"Don't worry. A few years ago, Percy, Annabeth, the other demigod, and Tyson, Percy's half-brother who's a cyclops-" He laughed at my expression. "They went on a quest to find the Golden Fleece." He pointed to the shimmering fleece on one of the branches. "They also saved Grover, who was captured by Polythemus the cyclops. When they got back, they put the fleece on the tree, and it healed it. It also brought Thalia out of the tree, so she's walking around like a normal demigod. She's also a Hunter of Artemis now, so she's immortal, unless she dies in battle."

"But why would Luke poison the tree in the first place? What's with that?" Will told me the entire story. How Percy went on all of those quests to fix everything. How Luke framed Percy for stealing the Master Bolt to cause a war between the gods. How it turned out Luke was helping Kronos rise. How he helped capture Artemis and made her hold the sky. How he had an entire army of demigods and monsters, and how he tried to attack Camp Half-Blood through the Labyrinth. About how Daedulus finally died, and the Labyrinth died with him. And how Luke became the host of Kronos. And how he attacked New York City, and put every mortal to sleep. How it turned out that Kronos had been pretty much tricking him into all of it. And how, in the end, he killed himself to kill Kronos. Obviously, his telling of the story had a lot more detail.

"I can't tell if I should hate him or respect him, for what he did at the end," I said.

"That's how a lot of people feel. He died a hero, but if he hadn't helped Kronos in the first place, all those deaths wouldn't have happened."

"Can we move on?" I asked. "I don't really want to keep talking about death."

He nodded. "Sure. So there's the Big House, which is where Chiron and Mr. D spend most of their time."

"Wait, Chiron as in that centaur who trained all the demigods in ancient times? And who's Mr. D?"

"Yep, that's the one. And Mr. D is Dionysus, god of wine and celebration".

"So Dionysus can stay here, but my dad can't visit me once?"

"Actually, Dionysus is here as punishment. Trust me, he does NOT want to be here."

"I find that offensive. He did something wrong, so he had to be around us?"

"He hates everybody, that's why. Especially teenagers."

"Ugh," I said, "Sounds like my math teacher." Will laughed.

"Okay, so over there is the volleyball court." A group of campers were playing. One girl spiked the ball, and her team cheered.

"Nice one, Miranda!" Will called. She looked over at us and beamed.

We moved on. "Over there is the climbing wall." I gaped at the giant walls that spit out fire every thirty seconds. One guy made it to the top wickedly fast, and just in time, too. Two seconds after he finished, the walls clashed together. "Has anyone died on that thing?" I asked.

"Not in at least, like, two years," Will said. Well, that didn't reassure me.

"Oh, great," I said.

"And over here the archery range…" We watched as a guy I recognized as Percy shot an arrow, narrowly missing me.

I shrieked. Will walked over. "No, no, Percy, like this." He took the bow and fired. Bullseye. I gaped.

"Show off," Percy muttered, making Will laugh. He walked back over to me. "So she's awake?" Percy said.

"No, I'm sleepwalking," I said sarcastically. "Well, no need to be rude," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Later, Perce," Will said, and we continued on our way. "Later," he called after us.

"Here are the pegasus stables. That one," he pointed to a completely black one, "Is off-limits. If Percy catches you riding Blackjack, you're dead." I nodded, making a mental note.

"There are the strawberry fields. We sell those to pay off the costs of the camp."

"Those are the woods, obviously. That's where we play Capture the Flag every other Friday. Usually, the Athena and Ares cabins are the team captains. My cabin usually gets put on Athena's team."

"This is the sword arena. You practice here everyday for whatever time your cabin is scheduled for, along with everything else. Except Sundays, which is everyone's free day."

"This is the canoe lake. This place marks the beginning of Percabeth."

"Percabeth?" I asked, "What's that?"

"The Aphrodite kids came up with it. It's the… ship name, I think? Yeah, ship name for Percy and Annabeth."

"Ohhh." I smirked. "Now I know who I'm gonna embarrass the most when I'm here." He laughed. "You sound like a Hermes kid."

"Could he be my dad?" I asked him. Will studied me as we walked. "Hmm… You could… but I doubt it. Most Hermes kids scream "You better protect your wallet," but you don't."

"Oh," I pouted.

"Don't worry," he said, "You'll find out tonight." I nodded. Good.

**(Okay, pretend Will showed her everything else. I don't think you'll want to sit through him showing her everything. It'd get boring.)**

"And, finally, the cabins. Your cabin is determined by your parent." I looked around. One cabin looked horrible. It was painted terribly, and there was barbed wire everywhere. We passed one cabin that, when we walked past, made me really want to take a nap. There was one that looked like a Barbie house, and the stench of perfume made me gag. One looked kinda like a factory. It had smokestacks, and I think I smelled oil from inside. I thought that one was kinda cool. There was also one that was bright gold, and it nearly blinded me from the sun glinting off of it.

"That one's mine," Will said, seeing where I was looking. I looked at him. "How have you not gone blind yet?" He just laughed in response.

"Which one do you think I am? Who do you think is my parent?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I really have no idea. Can you sing?" I scoffed. "No. I sound like a dying cat." He laughed. "Then you're probably not my sister. Are you all gushy about love?"

I gave him an Are you serious? look. He laughed. "Guess not. Are you-" He was interrupted by the sound of a conch shell. He grinned. "Time for dinner!" He grabbed my arm and pulled me along to the dining pavilion.

"Just for tonight, you'll sit there, at the Hermes table." Will pointed to a table that was occupied by several people who, like Will said, made you want to keep an eye on your wallet at all times. Will headed over to his table, greeting his siblings.

I walked over and sat down.

"Why hello," said a boy with brown hair and blue eyes. "New kid? I'm Connor Stoll."

A boy who was identical to him appeared next to me. "And I'm Travis Stoll. And you are?"

"Uh… Jo?"

"Nice to meet you, Jo. Is your dad Hermes, or has your parent just not claimed you yet?" Travis asked.

"He hasn't claimed me yet."

"Well, he's got to tonight," Connor said. "He'll probably claim you at the campfire. That's how it usually is. Now, let's get food. I am starving."

We got up and got our food. I got a juicy steak that almost made me drool., some watermelon, and a tomato… Don't judge.

I went over to sit back down, but one of the Stolls stopped me, I couldn't tell which. "Nuh-uh-uh, you naughty girl. You have to sacrifice some to the gods first." He led me over the fire, and dumped some of his steak into the fire, along with an apple. "To Hermes," he said, then turned to me. "Your turn."

I dumped some of my steak and a couple pieces of watermelon into the flames. "To… Whoever my dad is." We went back to the table and ate our food.

After dinner, Travis, Connor (I now knew which was which. Connor was about an inch taller than Travis), and I went to the amphitheatre for the campfire.

"Jo!" I looked up and saw Will waving me over, so I went over, the Stolls following me.

I sat down. "Hello, Blondie."

"It's Will."

"I know. I just wanted to bug you." I smirked. He narrowed his eyes at me.

Then a few people walked onto the stage, and they started to sing a weird campfire song, about how their grandmother got ready for a fight. Everyone around me sang along, while I just sat there like, wait, what.

They sang a few more songs, and then went back to their seats. Suddenly, my craving for s'mores tingled. I stood up.

"I NEED S'MORES!" I shouted, getting everyone's attention. I pointed to Travis, "You! Get me graham crackers! You!" I pointed to Connor, "Get me marshmallows! You!" I pointed to Will now. "Get me chocolate! And you!" I pointed to a random guy with brown curly hair and an elfish face. "Catch on fire somehow!" His hair actually burst into flames. I pointed to him again, unfazed. "Good!"

Pretty soon, Will, Travis, and Connor came back and handed me the ingredients. "Thank you," I said.

I walked over to the boy on fire and grabbed a marshmallow and stuck it on a stick I found on the ground (probably not very sanitary, but whatever) and held it over Flame Boy's head. Once it caught on fire, I blew it out and put it between the crackers and chocoIate bit into the s'more. "Mmm… Okay, I'm good now."

I went over and sat back down, like nothing had happened. "Continue," I said.

But everyone was still staring at me. "What?" I asked.

"Jo…" Will said.

"What?" I asked. Did I have chocolate on my face?

"Oh, my gods, Jo, just look up." Travis said, rolling his eyes. I looked up and saw a hologram of a hammer on fire.

"Your dad's Hephaestus," Connor said. "Huh."

"Sweet!" The guy who had caught on fire ran over to me. "What up, sis?"

**Holy crabcakes, that was actually really long on Google Docs (I don't have Word because my computer got jacked up, so we had to get it fixed and everything got deleted [a chapter from the Bobo Show was in there, too :(] and so we have to download Word again. UGH, it's so complicated!) And okay, I know there was a bonfire right there, but my friend and I were joking around the other day about it, and I really wanted to add the whole Leo on fire thing. Okay, bye! Review, pwetty pwease! Flames will be used in the forge.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Percy Jackson. Uncle Di- I mean, Uncle ****_Rick_**** does. Right... Uncle ****_Rick._**

"My dad's Hephaestus?" I asked.

"Yep! God of fire and blacksmithing."

"And you can catch on fire?" I questioned.

He nodded. "Uh-huh. But that's not a normal thing for Hephaestus kids. I'm Leo, by the way, only the awesomest person ever."

"Obviously not," I said, "Because you think 'awesomest' is a word."

He crossed his arm. "And you're obviously not the awesomest person ever because you're no fun." I just smirked.

"Leo," Chiron said. "Go show Jo to your cabin. The campfire is over."

"Yes, sir!" Leo saluted him, causing him to roll his eyes.

"To the Hephaestus cabin!" Leo shouted. He started skipping away. I shrugged and skipped after him.

We stopped in front of the cabin from earlier, the one with the smokestacks. The door was like a vault. When it opened, gears turned and smoke hissed. We walked in. It was even cooler on the inside. There were workbenches, several barrels of Legos (I hate to admit it, but I love those things), power-tools, scrap metal everywhere, steel bunks built in to the walls, and a control panel.

"Woah…" I muttered. Leo nodded proudly. "Yep. Of course, it's nothing compared to the Leo Cave." I raised my eyebrows. "The what?"

He hit a button on the wall and a queen-sized bed rose out of the center of the room. I jumped on it. "Can I have it?!"

"Ha! No way, Jose," he said. "All mine."  
"No, I claim it now! It's mine," I said and sprawled across it. He rolled his eyes and pushed me off of the bed.

"OW!" I yelled, as I had landed on my arm. Pain shot through my arm once again. I guess it was still pretty weak.

His hands flew to his mouth. "Oh, gods, I'm sorry, Jo!"

He tried to help me up… But the idiot grabbed me by my already injured arm. I shrieked in pain, and he let go, dropping me to the ground. I felt tears in my eyes, it hurt so bad. I just wasn't having a good day, was I? Well, at least I got some s'mores.

Just then, I heard the whirring of the door open. I rolled over to face the person, still groaning in stood a girl with brown hair and brown eyes. Her eyes widened when she saw me. "Oh, my gods, Leo, what did you do?!" She ran over and knelt down.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Does she look like she's okay, Nyssa?" Leo asked, then added, "Idiot."

"Says the boy," I croaked, "Who grabbed me by my broken arm."

The girl, Nyssa, looked at Leo and crossed her arms. "Seriously?" He held his hands up. "Sorry!"

Nyssa just rolled her eyes and helped me up (the right way). "I'm Nyssa, a fellow daughter of Hephaestus. You're Jo, right?" I nodded, holding my arm. The pain had faded a little bit.

"Here," she said, and walked over to a worktable. She opened a drawer and pulled out a bottle. She walked back over, and handed me a small white pill. "Tylenol should help."

"Thanks," I said, and popped it in my mouth and swallowed. I made a face at the taste.

Just then, the door opened again and a ton of people came trailing in, including an adorable little eight-year-old. (I'm pretty sure that Harley's actually like nine, but I picture Harley as an adorable little kid, and I think eight is cuter. Yeah, one year makes a huge difference in cuteness.)

"Wait, what time is it?" Leo asked.

"Ten o'clock," a guy with long, dark brown hair said. "Curfew."

"Oh. Well, then, everybody, get to bed!" Leo said. Nyssa rolled her eyes.

"Harley!" a guy with dirty blonde hair said to the little kid. "What are you doing? No candy right before bed."

"But Jake, I want candy!" Harley exclaimed. Jake held his hand out for the candy bar. Harley pouted, but gave it to him. Harley stomped off to the bathroom. I saw Jake glance around then he opened the Twix bar and ate it.

I walked up behind him and said, "Saw that." He jumped, then turned around. His eyes widened and he said, "Saw what?"

"You stole his Twix bar!" I gestured to Harley, who was coming out of the bathroom, with the toothbrush sticking out of his mouth.

"No, I didn't! I…" His eyes darted around the room.

"Harley!" I called. Jake's eyes widened. "No! Don't tell him! I swear, I'll get him another one tomorrow!" I laughed and nodded. "Good."

"You're Jo, right?" he asked. I nodded.

Harley walked over. "Ooo aw ooh?" I raised my eyebrows and gestured to the toothbrush in his mouth. "Oh ah!" he said, and raced to the bathroom. I heard the protest of his siblings- my siblings- and him saying, "Oove! Oove!"

He came back and took a deep breath. "Who are you?" he said. Okay, his little eight-year-old voice was really cute.

"I'm Jo, and I'm your new sister, I guess."

"Cool! Now I have a pretty sister!" I saw Nyssa out of the corner of my eye's jaw drop. I held back a laugh.

"Excuse me?" Nyssa said, crossing her arms.

Harley looked up at her, eyes innocent. "Oh, I meant another pretty sister!" Nyssa narrowed her eyes. "Uh-huh."

"No, really!" He hugged her and I saw her make a Oh-my-gods-he-is-so-adorable face. "Oh, I can't stay mad at you!" she cooed. He smiled.

"EVERYBODY, GET TO BED!" We turned around to see Leo with a megaphone. Harley scrambled over to his bed and climbed in.

"Uh… I don't exactly have PJs…" I said, looking around. "Or a toothbrush…"

"Oh, you can borrow some of mine for tonight," Nyssa said. "We'll get you some of your own soon. Leo, I assume you grabbed her some camp clothes from the store earlier? It is your job as counselor."

"Huh? Uh, no…" he said, looking sheepish. Nyssa groaned. "Go get her some now, then."

"But the harpies!" he protested.

"Go!" He sighed, then opened the door. He took a deep breath then bolted, screaming, "DON'T KILL ME, DON'T KILL ME, DON'T KILL ME!"

Nyssa turned to me. "As for the toothbrush, there's an extra one in the top drawer under the sink."

"Thanks," I said. I grabbed the toothbrush and brushed my teeth. (No dip, Jo. Shut up. Oh, gods, I'm talking to myself.)

"I put the pajamas on your bed," Nyssa said when I came out, pointing to it.

I walked over and picked them up. "Mickey Mouse," I said. "Nice choice." She gave me a cheesy grin.

"Nyssa, tuck me in!" I looked over at Harley, who was pouting to Nyssa. She rolled her eyes and tucked him in. She kissed him on the forehead. "Good night, Harley." Awwww.

"Good night, Nyssie!"

She turned around faster than you could say 'Nyssie.' "Don't call me that." He giggled.

"GO TO SLEEP, EVERYBODY!" Leo sauntered in, carrying a pile of clothes.

"Oh, shut up, Leo." Nyssa muttered.

"Okay, guys, pull out your swords, knives, daggers, blablabla, and face your opponent."

I looked around. "Um…" I raised my hand tentatively. "I don't have a sword." Luckily, the ambrosia had finished its work, and my arm was fine now.

"Leo didn't help you find one this morning?" Percy asked. I shook my head. Percy sighed. "Okay, fine, someone wanna help her get a sword? We're not learning anything new today, so you won't be missing anything."

"I will." I turned around and saw Will raising his hand.

"Okay, you know where to go."

I followed Will to the armory. Swords and knives covered every square inch of the wall. I gaped at them.

"Here, try this one," Will said, grabbing an iron one from above the doorway. He handed it to me. I took it, and it was a little too heavy. It fell to the ground with a huge BANG! I jumped.

"Um, I don't think that one's going to work," I said, pointing at the sword on the floor. Will laughed and picked it up. "Yeah, I assumed. I just wanted to see your reaction." I narrowed my eyes. "Haha, very funny." He nodded enthusiastically. "It was!" I smacked his shoulder, making him laugh again.

"Okay, okay. How about… this one." He grabbed an iron knife off a shelf and handed it to me. I held it, and shook my head. "Too light."

We kept going through sword after sword, but none of them worked for me.

"What about that one?" I asked, pointing to one hanging on the wall. It's hilt was orangish red, and it looked like flames were engraved in it, and the blade was tinted red.

"Oh, Flóga?" he said, and gave it to me. It felt perfect. I grinned.

"Yeah, it means Flame. I guess that's not very surprising, considering your dad's the god of fire."

(A/N Lol don't trust that translation, I used Google Translate and it was confusing.)

I looked at the sword, admiring the beauty.

"Okay, let's go back to the sword arena. Class should still be going on," Will said, looking at his watch. I nodded. "Okay."

We walked back to the arena, just as class was ending. I pouted as I heard Percy say, "Okay, guys, class is over. See ya tomorrow."

"What? I want to practice," I whined. Percy looked at me apologetically. "Sorry, I'd stay and help you, but I have to go teach archery."

I thought back to the day before, when he'd almost hit me. "Seriously?" I squeaked.

He laughed. "No. Chiron would never put me in charge of that." I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the gods."

"Gee, thanks," he said, rolling his eyes.

I grinned, "You're welcome."

"No, but seriously, I've got to go teach a canoeing class. Kind of pointless, but…" Percy shrugged. I nodded. "It's cool." He smiled then ran off to the lake. I turned around to face Will, only to see him running off to the archery range. I rolled my eyes.

I sat down on a bench. I really wanted to practice. I fiddled with the hilt in my hands, with the blade pointing at the ground.

"Hey." I jumped and turned around. A girl with blonde hair and grey eyes was standing there. I think I had seen her hanging out with Percy earlier.

"Hi…?"

"I'm Annabeth Chase," she said, holding her hand out for a handshake. I ignored the handshake and high-fived her hand instead. "And I'm Jo. I don't do formal introductions."

She laughed, then looked at my sword. "Wow, that's nice. I haven't really seen that one before."

I shrugged. "It popped out at me."

"So were you going to practice, or what?" she asked.

I shrugged again. "I don't have anyone to practice with."

She made a face. "Oh, I see. I'm dead meat. Get up." I chuckled and hopped up.

"Okay, first, you have to raise it. Higher. Good. Okay, now I'll just show you the basics. A really important one is the disarming move." We practiced for at least an hour, until it was time for the next class. "Bye, Jo," Annabeth waved. I waved back. "Later."

I went to my cabin, to see if anyone was there. Empty. I groaned. I decided to go to the lake instead.

When I got there, I saw something that was adorable. PERCABETH! I already shipped them so hard. They were sitting on the dock, holding hands. For a minute, I just sat there going Awww.

"Hello." I jumped about five feet, and turned around. I smacked Will. "What the heck, don't do that!"

He laughed. "Sorry. Watcha doing?"

I pointed to Percabeth. "They're so cute!" I exclaimed. Will rolled his eyes. "Girls. Hopeless romantics."

I raised my eyebrows. "Boys. Heartless mustards."

"You mean ba-"

"No! Mustards! I don't swear." He rolled his eyes again. "Keep doing that," I said, "Your eyes are gonna fall out of your head." He just rolled them again, which caused me to roll my eyes.

I turned back to Percabeth and sighed. They were so cute! Dear lord, I sound like one of the Aphrodite girls. Well, except for Piper. Anyway, I watched as Annabeth leaned her head on Percy's shoulder, and I let out a tiny squeal.

Will rolled his eyes again. "Geez, calm down. They're not even kissing." Just then, they did. I squealed louder, but not loud enough for them to hear. "Dear gods…" Will muttered.

I turned to him. "Oh, please, even you have to admit that is freaking cute." He just shook his head, but when he turned around, I got a glimpse of him smiling.

"Ha!" I said. "See? It's cute. C-U-T-E. Cute." He sighed. "Fine. It's," he waved his hands around, "Cute. Bye!" He turned to leave.

"No! I'm bored, and Travis and Connor are at archery, and I don't know where Leo is."

"He's probably at Bunker 9," he said. Huh?

"What's that?" I asked.

"Oh, right, I never showed you. Here, follow me." I followed him into the woods. We went pretty far, and I was a bit concerned that we would get lost. Finally, we reached a cliff face. "Great," I said. "Dead end."

"Not exactly," Will said. He knocked on the wall. "YO, LEO!" he shouted.

What happened next was weird. The face of the cliff in front of us morphed. Two huge red doors appeared, about five times my height. (I'm five foot, in case you were wondering. So it's about twenty-five feet, in case you're seven years old and can't do the math.)

"How…"

"Those Hephaestus kids do wonders," Will said. The doors opened a little, and Leo appeared, with grease stains covering his face, clothes, and arms. "Oh, hey, Jo!"

"Hi…" I said, trying to peer inside.

"Oh, right! Here." He opened the doors wide, and I stepped in. I looked around. "Oh, my gods…" I breathed. I was in heaven.

**So yeah. It's horrible. Uggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Okay, I'm gonna start asking a question every chapter.**

**Who's your favorite artist (as in musician.)?**

**Okay, bye! Please review! Oh, and as always, Stacy's mom ****_does _****have it going on. Later! (That's right, Kitty! I stole your outro! Watcha gonna do about it? That's right! Nothing! HA!**


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